écuries, école, cantine… Dans les coulisses du cirque Gruss
There, between blue and black tarpaulins, two artists get dressed. On racks, extravagant costumes: silver bustier, multicolored clothes, white togas and red dresses. Among them, Maïlys Loyal, listen around her neck, is putting her outfits on in front of her. Five different, for as many appearances of the singer during the show. “A few short passages, linking the other numbers,” she smiles. Coming from a Circassian line, she is the granddaughter of Anselme-Pierre Loyal, the very first Monsieur Loyal, the master of ceremonies.
More than ten nationalities
After about two hours of performance, the crowd gradually leaves the imposing marquee. As the neon lights at the main entrance go out and the shutters of the ticket office are lowered, a real village, that of the Gruss circus, is revealed under the shade of the big top. More than a hundred white and red caravans serve as homes, schools, places to eat, stables and workshops. The technical staff goes from one installation to another, yellow vests or “Arlette Gruss” fleece jackets on their backs.
Several men, mostly Ukrainians, are busy in the horse stalls. Long corridor located in the center of the square, the stables accommodate about thirty domestic animals. Sarah Houcke, the mistress of the place, comes from the sixth generation of a circus family. “And still running,” she comments, smiling. “Hey! Come here, go!” shouts the Franco-Englishwoman when she sees three ponies escape from their open enclosure. A common language in Arlette Gruss, where more than ten nationalities live in community. “Here, we speak Circassian “, said Sébastien, electrician and manager son, earlier.
Next door, in the sewing trailer, Sarah is approached by many people in different languages as she desperately searches for a zipper to fix one of the costumes. Every day, the thirty-year-old with flamboyant red hair alternates between English, Italian, Spanish and even Ukrainian. Previously a juggler and trapeze artist, she has offered her seamstress services to the Arlette Gruss circus for ten years.
Nomadic and family life
A few meters away is the canteen, a real meeting place at mealtimes. A group of young electricians. Antoine, a young recruit, welcomes this job at the circus, “a childhood dream”. But “the nomadic life is not easy every day”, reacts Guvendal, arms crossed. The itinerant trade has undermined his family life and he now works at Arlette Gruss only occasionally. His companions nod their heads. In the team, some have chosen to combine personal life and passion. Sarah, the seamstress, lives on the site with her husband and two “privileged” children. “They travel and grow up in an atypical environment, surrounded by animals”, without being deprived of a “completely normal daily life”, she says.
It is in the caravan-school that we meet Laurence Loeffler, the teacher, who contorts herself to allow a dozen pupils aged 4 to 15 to follow the school programs. All are the children of artists and employees of the site. “Most imagine staying here and doing what their parents did later,” says the teacher. At recess, 10-year-old Valentina brags about her role in the show. Carried by two clowns, it announces: “Ladies and gentlemen, twenty minutes intermission. Roxanne, 9, sometimes takes care of the ticket office, a “super” job because, over there, “there are a lot of sweets”.
That day, as often, the children join the big top after the performances. At 5 p.m., the animation has not yet completely disappeared, the artists indulge in several acrobatics. “I’ll do like mum in the air later,” echoes a slender voice below the heights of the imposing stage.